Experience is the best teacher

One of the best bits of advice I ever received in newspapers came many years ago, but it continues to ring loud and clear.

While searching for my first job in this business, a crusty scribe armed with decades of experience under his ink-stained shirt handed me this key-to-life nugget:

"When you finally get a job, be sure to get a desk next to the oldest reporter in the newsroom. The old guy will show you the right way to do things. You'll learn nothing sitting next to the pretty girl."

What the crusty scribe was trying to impress upon me is this: Experience is invaluable. It's like an oasis in a desert; when you happen upon it, start drinking.

That lesson was reinforced upon me Monday night.

The handbell ringers of Wentz's United Church of Christ in Lansdale, Pa., presented a Presidents Day concert to the residents of Schwenksville Manor, a retirement community. My wife and I were on hand because our 9-year-old, Nick, is among the two dozen members of enthusiastic director Laura McLennan's handbell choirs.

The event was called "A Patriotic Concert & Tribute to Our Military" and featured stirring, note-perfect selections, including "The Star-Spangled Banner," "America the Beautiful," "Stars and Stripes Forever," "God Bless America," "God Bless the USA," "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," and the marches of each branch of the military.

Listening to the wonderfully inspiring music in the packed room were mostly men and women residents of the manor, but some kids and their parents were there, too.

As I waited for the concert to begin, I noticed my son with his nose in my cell phone playing a downloaded video game. When the portion of the concert began in which he was not playing bells, I told him to turn it off and enjoy the performance.

What these devices do to kids is cause them to become self-isolated in a room of interesting people, including some their own ages. Nick is not alone, just representative of many children today.

And then I looked at the seniors as they awaited the start of the concert. They were chattering away in small pockets, like monkeys in a crowded forest of trees, delighting in telling stories about life and their day. Laughter and smiles held center stage.

A woman held photographs of young children, perhaps her grandchildren. Fellow residents seated beside her and in the rows in front and behind her leaned in closely to see the kids' photos and commented on their good looks. The woman beamed. Then other wallets opened. Others leaned in. Some women beamed.

Two men who appeared old enough to have served America during wartime chatted while pointing to songs on the concert program. One of them began to softly sing one of the songs, prompting the other to nod his head in time. Perhaps they were sharing a memory of their days in uniform. Or maybe they just both enjoyed that particular patriotic song. Maybe it reminded them of the spring of their lives.

Or maybe, just maybe, the seniors were doing what seems to be lost on much of today's youth, a generation of kids addicted to video games and cell-phone texting as though they were controlling prescription drugs: They were talking to one another face to face.

It's an oasis that kids today should consider downloading.

Phil Gianficaro's column appears weekly.

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